Heat’s White House visit confirmed for Monday

The NBA schedule doesn’t say that the Heat should be in Washington D.C. next week.

The President’s schedule, however, overrides everything.

So, as expected, the Heat will fly out of Boston after playing the Celtics on Sunday afternoon, so they can receive their championship honors at the White House on Monday, in a ceremony scheduled for roughly 1:30 p.m.

The players and media have known for a while this was a possibility, and many of the Heat mainstays are already quite familiar with President Obama. Dwyane Wade was invited to a fatherhood event in 2009, and Wade, Shane Battier and LeBron James were among those who played basketball with Obama in August 2010.

Wade, Udonis Haslem and Ray Allen have all been honored at The White House for previous championships. Wade and Haslem were with the Heat contingent after the 2006 title. So was Erik Spoelstra, then a Heat assistant.

“I have great pictures still,” Spoelstra said. “One memory I have is when President Bush actually bounced the ball. We’ll make sure we have air in the ball this time.”